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December 18, 2008
 

It has been a tough couple of weeks.

The first week was a very emotional experience.  I went over to Wales for my dad’s funeral; the last time I was there was for my mum’s funeral last year.

A few days after the funeral, we scattered both of their ashes in the Daffodil Meadow at Pentrebychan.

Going into their empty home was wrenching; seeing all their personal belongings in their usual places but without them there was hard.  Sorting through their things, especially the photographs, was even worse.  It seemed like an intrusion a violation of their privacy.


Sue had said that she wanted her ashes to be scattered over an area known as the Panorama in Wales, near Llangollen, and I carried out her wishes while I was over there.

Accompanied by her brother and sister, my sister and their respective significant others, we trekked a little way up the mountain until we found a spot that we liked.  It had a nice view of Castell Dinas Bran (left), sometimes known as Crow Castle.

There was also a large triangular-shaped rock (right) there that will serve as a marker for future visits.  We placed roses in the ground around the rock and wondered if any of them would take root and grow.


This is a photo I took at the Flash in Gresford.  It has nothing to do with anything; I just like the picture.


The second week was not exactly a laugh a minute either.  It began when I landed in Philadelphia and found that my connecting flight was cancelled.  Then the replacement flight was delayed several times and I eventually arrived in Manchester six hours late in the middle of an ice storm.

Carol picked me up at the airport and we crawled home on icy roads.  There were trees down everywhere.  When we finally made it to my house, it was in darkness.  There was no electricity.  And nor would there be any for quite some time.

 

The next day revealed the extent of the storm, which was described as historic the storm against which all future storms would be measured.  The devastation was widespread, affecting all of the New England states but New Hampshire bore the brunt of it.  Every part of the state south of the White Mountains was hit.  Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses were without power.

Everything was covered with half an inch of ice.  The branches of the trees hung down like crystal chandeliers, many of them breaking under the weight and falling on power lines.  I took these photos around my house.

The governor declared New Hampshire a disaster area and Dubya declared a State of Emergency, releasing resources and mobilizing the National Guard.  It was the most damaging storm that the electricity companies have ever experienced.  More than 500 crews continue to work around the clock, coming from many other states and even Canada.

The temperature dropped well below freezing and the Red Cross and other organizations set up shelters for people.  We have a woodstove and plenty of firewood so the cold was not too much of a problem for us but there was no water because we have a well, which requires an electric pump.  We drank bottled water and I had to fetch water from a stream in 60 lb containers so we could flush the toilets.  Not a fun thing.

We eventually got our power back after five days and were lucky compared to some who could still go another week or more without electricity.  I was finally able to get what was probably the best shower I have ever had.

There is another big storm forecast for tomorrow that will bring us 5 to 9 inches of snow (probably more up here) and yet another storm on Sunday that will be more like the one we just had, bringing even more ice and possibly more power outages.  And it is still not officially winter yet!

 

 

November 28, 2008

My dad passed away last night following a bout of pneumonia.  The picture above is of my mum and dad when they visited us a few years ago.  So much has changed in such a short time.  I would like to believe that they are together again.

 

 

November 17, 2008
I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said.
But I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.

The rain in Maine stayed mainly not in the plain but on our heads when we took a short break there last weekend.

It was Carol’s birthday and we decided to visit Kennebunkport in Maine. It was out of season and many places were closed. The weather left a lot to be desired but it gave a certain coziness to the trip as we walked along the uncrowded streets in the rain beneath a large umbrella.

The wind, rain, high tides and ocean fog gave Maine’s rocky coastline a ruggedly attractive and, at times, almost surreal appearance.

The town and surrounding areas are very pleasant and have so far escaped the crass commercialism that has afflicted many of the other tourist areas. It was a good trip and we enjoyed it very much.

George Bush senior has a summer mansion on a peninsula known as Walkers Point near Kennebunkport. We went to pay him a visit but he had already left to stay with Dubya at Camp David. He didn’t even tell us he was going.

I did take a photo of his house though:

On the left is the main house in the Bush compound.

On the right is the spot across the water from the Bush house from where I took the photo.

 

 

 

Here are some other pics:

  

  

  

        

     

 

October 31, 2008
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.

For the past several years, the town of Keene, New Hampshire, has hosted an annual pumpkin festival.  Neither of us even knew what a pumpkin festival was, much less had ever been to one.

So we went to it.

What exactly is a pumpkin festival, you say to yourself?

Good question.  Basically, it is an opportunity to transfer some of your hard-earned money to the town's stores and street vendors, whilst surrounded by a zillion or so pumpkins.

Actually, there were 22,568 pumpkins and most of them were carved or otherwise decorated.  Organizers were hoping to get at least 30,000.  Keene has set and subsequently broken the record for the greatest number of carved pumpkins in one place several times but lost their crown in 2006 when Boston decided to get in on the act.  Boston set a new record with 30,128 pumpkins!

Anyway, it's still a lot of pumpkins  and I am glad that I was not the one who had to count them all.

I did take a few photos of them though, shown below.  There was a great deal of creativity and carving talent on display.

What I want to know is what they do with them all afterwards.

     

     

      

      

     

     

     

 

October 20, 2008
Nothing is more discouraging than unappreciated sarcasm.

If you ever want to visit New England, the Fall is probably the best time to do it.  The weather has been mostly warm and sunny for the past few weeks and the foliage has made the place look very beautiful, just like on those calendar pictures.

The only problem is that winter is just around the corner; the nights are cold, dropping below freezing, and there is even the possibility of a little snow in the forecast!  Say it ain't so!

Summer just seemed to fly by even faster than usual this year.

I am involved in a project at work that leaves very little time for anything else but I managed to surface for air a few times and snapped a few photos along the way.  Here are some of them:

 

It took seven months but Carol finally got me on a horse.  Here we are with a couple of her horses.  I am on Lance having my first lesson!  It was a lot of fun.

     

 

This was a hike up Pawtuckaway.  The trail was poorly marked and we kept losing it and had to double back a few times.

This is in the middle of a field full or very large boulders left over from the last ice-age.  They caused the needle on my compass to spin!

The cause of the hilarity was when I stuck a hiking pole in the ground and fastened my camera to it.  I set the auto timer and ran over to the rock, sat down - and slid down the back of it.  I made it back up just as the picture took.

 

 

   After slogging all the way to the top, this was the only view we had.

 

This was a hike up Mt. Kearsarge, which had much better views - 360º plus a fire tower to climb.

     

 

We took a trip up to the Kancamagus Highway, which is a very popular scenic route, especially at this time of year.  These photos were taken at the top of a ridge and it was so cold up there.  The wind chill was nasty.

           

 

You just never know what you might find when you are out and about.

One day I was making my way home from Carol's house and decided to take the path less travelled.  I followed a dirt road and found this guy standing in the woods at the side of the road.

It's huge and made of metal; it must have required quite a bit of effort to get it here.

There were "No Trespassing" signs there but I don't think they meant us.

 

 

 

 

 

August 25, 2008
Horses are uncomfortable in the middle and dangerous at both ends.

Carol has several horses and also sells and leases them.

We had a bit of a break from all the rain and thunderstorms the other day and took advantage of the sun to take photos to go with some ads.

That's my shadow on the left.  I had an artsy moment but I soon got over it and I am OK now.

Here are a few of the photos.  Want to buy a horse?

 

 

 

 

             

 

August 8, 2008
08/08/08

Such a cool date.

August 4, 2008
The tide comes in and the tide goes out, and what have you got?

August already!  Can you believe that?  The summer is slipping by much too quickly for my liking.

The past few weeks haven't been your typical summer though.  We had an unusually high amount of snow last winter and now it looks like we are going to do the same with the rain.  We seem to be stuck in an endless cycle of rain and thunderstorms.

I blame Al Gore and his global warming.

Some of the storms are quite nasty too.  The one we had towards the end of last month that caused so much destruction has been officially confirmed to have been a tornado.

The folks that were hit by it are still cleaning up the mess.  The problems are continuing a little further north of here with rivers becoming dangerous with so much water and roads getting washed out.

Whenever we go out, the name of the game is to dodge the storms.  We missed some of them and got caught by a couple of others.

We just missed one last Saturday when we took the kayaks out on a reservoir in Manchester.  We had only been out of the water a few minutes when  another storm kicked in.

From my personal experience I have to conclude that kayaks and reservoirs must cause thunderstorms.

We went out on a river in Groton too, which was much more interesting and we stayed dry.

The river is home to all kinds of wildlife.  We saw several herons, an osprey, some birds we could not identify and this family of swans, which was a pleasant surprise.

 

July 24, 2008
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

Hiked the Long Trail in Vermont,
Splashing through the mud and the rain.
Kayaked down Lamoille River,
Want to do it over again.

I joined Carol for the last three days where she was vacationing in Vermont with her daughter and her friend.  It looks like they picked the best week because the weather changed to heavy rain and thunderstorms towards the end and has settled in to that pattern ever since.

Flood warnings are now in effect yet again and the governor has declared a state of emergency and mobilized the National Guard.  We are OK here but I am expecting to get water in my basement later tonight.

Elsewhere in the state, today's storm has damaged up to 100 houses so far and completely destroyed several of them.  At least one person was killed.

Back in Vermont.  On Thursday we rented a couple of kayaks from an outfit that transported us by van and dropped us off 8.3 miles upstream (the .3 is very important) on the Lamoille River.

Only one other couple went for the 8 miles, while the others opted for a shorter run.  They missed out; it was great.  The weather was warm and sunny, and the river was slow and gentle just right for beginners.  It was beautiful out there very peaceful and relaxing.

Carol did some wheeling and dealing and we ended up buying our kayaks from the rental company.  They are a little banged up but give us a cheap entry point into kayaking to see how much we really like it.  They deducted the cost of the rental and even threw in the paddles, which normally start at about $100 each.

On Friday we joined an organized hike up a section of the Long Trail with two other hikers and two guides. This trail runs for 272 miles along the length of Vermont, from the Massachusetts border to the Canadian border.  We only did a little over 6 miles of it but it included a tricky little section known as Devil's Gulch.

The hike was billed as strenuous and I think that was a fairly accurate description.  Our training on Monadnock paid off.

 

It rained along the way and we got a tad wet but it wasn't until we finished that the real fun started.

We were on our way back to the resort in a van and had just dropped off one of the guides who lives along the way.

One or two minutes later, the heavens opened up with a huge cloudburst and we could barely see out of the windshield.

Moments later, an enormous clap of thunder exploded simultaneously with the lightning.  The storm was directly overhead!

 

We did not get much further because our way was suddenly blocked by a tree across the road.  We tried a different road and that too was blocked by a tree.

Even the way back along the road we had just travelled down was blocked by a tree.  Everywhere we turned, there were trees down.  We were lucky not to get hit by one.

It seems that everyone in Vermont drives pickup trucks and carries chainsaws, and we came across one group who were preparing to clear a tree out of the way.

They told us that there were six other trees down along the same road.  Power lines were down too and everyone had to stay clear of those.  Another group told us that all roads out of the area were blocked.

It would be two hours before crews were able to clear a path wide enough for us to escape.

A lot of property was damaged too.  The cause of all this destruction was a tornado!  More than one person reported seeing it touch down.

It is not an everyday occurence here but it does happen sometimes.  And it happened right where we were!  Roads in front of us and behind us were all blocked by downed trees and yet we did not see it through all that rain on the windows.

On our travels, we passed a sign that read "Inky Dinky Oinks".  "What does that mean?" we both wondered.

"Something to do with little pigs?" I ventured.

As we turned the corner we saw the flashing blue light of a cop car.  He had stopped some hapless motorist and looked like he was giving him a ticket.  "Inky dinky oink?" said Carol.  Perfect, I thought.

On Saturday we got a little more adventurous with our "new" kayaks and took them to a reservoir.

We were out in the middle of the lake when another thunderstorm popped out of nowhere.

We headed for the nearest cover, which was neither near nor did it offer us much in the way of cover.

 

We got wet again for the second day in a row but at least we didn't get completely soaked and escaped the brunt of the storm.

The good thing was that everyone else scattered when the storm hit and we had the lake almost to ourselves for a while afterwards.

Despite the storm, we had a good time and found some charming little coves to explore.

This kayaking thing is a lot of fun.

 

July 8, 2008
The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!

As we climbed Mt. Monadnock
On the fourth of July,
An aerie of golden eagles
Soared high in the sky.

Friday was the 4th of July Independence Day and a holiday for most.  We celebrated by climbing Mt. Monadnock again.  We took the path less travelled this time, which was a seven-mile roundtrip around the side and along the ridge.  Seven miles might not sound too far but when you are climbing up and down a mountain, it is pretty strenuous.  It took six hours in total without about an hour for breaks.

We were late starting out and finished about an hour before sunset.  The last leg of the hike is through thick woods, which were already getting dark and it was starting to get a little creepy in there for a while.

At one point we thought we had gone in a circle and were reminded of the Blair Witch movie!

The highlight was probably when we saw more than two dozen golden eagles close by.  I had never seen more than one at a time before so that was cool.  I was too slow getting the camera out of my backpack but I managed to get one shot.

Next day we went to a cookout at a friend's house on a lake.  She had a couple of kayaks, which we tried.  It was fun so now we are on the lookout for some cheap kayaks and to do some more.

July 1, 2008
Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip around the sun.

 

Last Saturday was Dylan's 2nd birthday!  Can you believe that?  How time flies whether you're having fun or not and he had a little party at my house.  (Sarah and Dylan now have their own apartment in Manchester.)

Tasha can be a real pain in the butt sometimes so I gave her a large dog chew that kept her occupied the whole time and she kept her out of our way.  Good call with the dog chew.

I took a load of photos but he was so engrossed in all his presents that I could not get him to look up.  Here are a few of them; click on them for larger images:

 

     

These are some that Sarah took earlier:

  

Then I went to a horse show with Carol in Springfield, Massachusetts.  No, that is not the same Springfield of Homer Simpson fame.  There is an entire subculture going on here and I tentatively dipped by big-toe in.

I was thwarted in my attempts to take decent pictures because my camera is not up to capturing movement indoors when the light is low.  Here is one pic that sort of came out:

On the way back we stopped off at Old Sturbridge Village, which is a sort of living museum that gives some idea of what life was like in New England in the 1800's.  Click this link for more info.

 

  

 

The weather was very hot and we found even hotter fires burning in a few places.

 

 

 

 

This is one of the toys the kids used to play with.  It is harder than it looks.

This was supposed to be a demonstration of another popular toy at the time hot air balloons.  See the dark sky in the background?  Moments later the heavens opened up.  We had thunder, lightning and a torrential downpour.  We never did get to see the balloons.

  

 

June 24, 2008
You're only young once, but you can stay immature forever.

The fabric of the universe is woven with a set of laws that are as perverse as they are mysterious.  Some of these laws are known, such as the laws of the line (queue in the UK) "The other line always moves faster than the one you're in""If you move to the other line, the one you were in will now move faster" and so on.

I believe I discovered another one this past weekend!  It is "The length of the line you are in is inversely proportional to the satisfaction derived upon reaching the end of that line".  Or more concisely "The longer the line, the greater the disappointment".

The first manifestation of this law occurred when we went to the Rock ‘N Ribfest, held on the Anheuser-Busch facility in Merrimack, NH.  Barbequed ribs were the order of the day and the vendors came from all over the country.

Some even came from overseas such as this Australian outfit, which we chose.  Big mistake!

We waited in line for an hour before getting served.  It was an hour wasted.  The ribs were very greasy and did not even have a barbeque flavor.

The Rock part of this event were the bands that were playing.  This is the James Montgomery band, who are well known over here.

The next day we went to Canobie Lake amusement park in Salem, NH with my company's summer outing and the same law was in evidence once again.

The weather was not so good (that's a different law) and we had to dodge the raindrops.

Apparently, the weather in the surrounding areas was much worse with some pretty decent thunderstorms thrown in.  This translated to a low attendance at the park and the lines were minimal to get on the rides.

All but one ride that is The Haunted Mine.  It looked so interesting and we waited in line for 30 minutes to get on that one and it turned out to be another half-hour wasted.  The ride was totally lame.

Still, the rest of it was fun and we liked the skateboard ride so much we went on it twice.  Here are some more photos:

Unsuspecting passersby get wet from the Boston Tea Party ride.

Carol loves horses a lot (she has 12 of them!) — and that love transfers to carousel horses too, which she persuaded me to go on with her.  Oh dear!

This is the Sky Ride.  Views from the top and from the bottom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

June17, 2008
There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.

We have had some pretty interesting weather for this time of year and even had to endure an official heat wave that broke a few records!  It does not seem so very long ago that we were breaking snowfall records.

It was triple-H weather hazy, hot and humid and not particularly pleasant.  We took a break from it by spending a few hours paddling a canoe in Groton, Massachusetts, which is where Carol lives.  We went along the Nashua river, which goes through some conservation land and it was all very tranquil and much cooler.  We met very few other boaters.

We got back just in the nick of time because a few minutes later the heavens opened up with a tropical downpour. 

Here are some photos (I was travelling incognito), click on them for larger images:

  

We were not so lucky with the weather the following week when we decide to climb Mt. Monadnock.  We started out early and it began to rain heavily and the air was quite cool.  We decided to continue anyway.

Fortunately, the first part of the climb was through trees, which shielded us from most of the rain.  The good news was that by the time we broke through the tree line, the rain had stopped.

The bad news was that the mist was rolling in.  By the time we reached the summit, we could barely see anything other than the mist swirling around.  It was a pretty hard slog, made tougher by the granite rocks being wet.

I also had new shingles put on my roof.  The original ones were 20 years old, which is about their life expectancy, and were starting to let in the rain.  So I had new ones installed.  I was a little apprehensive because I decided to change both the color and the style but now that it is done, I am happy with the results.  These are 30 year shingles so that should be one problem I won't have to worry about for a little while.  These are the before and after pics:

     

 

May 29, 2008
Fools rush in where fools have been before.

Last Monday was Memorial Day, which is a holiday for most people.  I took Friday off as well, making for a nice long weekend.  Carol and I decided to go to the coast for a few days.

We spent some time in Portsmouth, New Hampshire just looking around.  We tried to visit the Redhook brewery at Pease International Tradeport but were thwarted in our attempt.

It was Race Day, whatever that is, and there were roadrunners everywhere.  Out of all the roads in the industrial park, the only one that was blocked off was the one we wanted (but of course).  It was blocked off because “that’s where the starting mats are”.  So that was the end of that.

We stayed just over the border in Kittery, Maine, which is known for its famous name factory outlets.  We spent a few hours there and picked up some pretty good deals on clothes.  Their prices are normally lower than the regular stores but they were having Memorial Day sales as well with as much as an additional 40% off!  It was good stuff at good prices and I shopped like a girl.

Here are some photos, click on them for a larger image:

We spent a pleasant afternoon in Ogunquit a very pretty coastal town in Maine. We parked by the beach; it was fairly windy down there and a lot of people were flying kites.

From there, we strolled along the Marginal Way cliff walk to Perkins Cove where we had a well-earned ice cream.  The Marginal Way was seriously damaged a few years ago by the big storm that became the inspiration for the movie The Perfect Storm.  They are still doing repairs.

       

We also went to York briefly just to see the lighthouse.

Although we couldn't make it to the Redhook brewery, I did get to taste their beer when we stopped by this little restaurant in Portsmouth harbor.

We also took a harbor cruise while we were there.  Although it was fairly cold out there on the water, I still managed to get sunburned.

While in Kittery, we went into a restaurant for dinner.

They make a lot of different beers in Maine and I wanted to try one but I had not heard of any of the ones on the menu and did not know which one to choose.

So I did the only reasonable thing one can do under the circumstances and ordered all of them.

They came in six little glasses with a different beer in each one, and were collectively known as “A Taste of Maine”.

For some reason, Carol felt that she should drive us back to the hotel afterwards.

 

May 20, 2008
Grass growing from sidewalk cracks never turns brown.

The big event in New Boston this weekend was a duck race.  Rubber duckies that is.

It was the fourth annual duck race that is intended to raise money for a trust set up in the name of a local teen who died in a tragic accident.  The money goes to promote youth leadership, academic and athletic achievement, and community service.

It was $5 per duck with a chance to win $1,000.  I didn't even get a place.

Here are some photos, click on them for larger images:

There were fun and games for the kids on the common.

The garden center looked very pretty.

Transporting the ducks to their launch site (under police escort) further upstream.

Here they come.  The duck armada rounds the bend.

The finishing post.  The first of the rubber duckies come into sight.

Eagerly awaiting the winner.

 

May 4, 2008
Nobody notices when things go right.

Spring has finally sprung!  We have had sun and rain and some pleasantly warm days.  All the ice has melted, including the glacier at the end of my driveway (although it was probably one of the last holdouts).

This last winter boasted the second highest snowfall since records began.  Naturally, much of that melted ice and rain found its way into my basement.  But so far we have not experienced any of the flooding and mass destruction of the past two years.

April is such a pain-in-the butt kind of month.  I have to complete my tax return (the tax laws are incomprehensible, even to the professionals), dogs have to be licensed (after they have had their rabies shots), cars have to be inspected (after they have been registered) and this year I had to renew my driver's license, which has become more difficult for non-US citizens since 9/11.  More bureaucratic hoops to jump through.

Some of these things are birthday related.  Somehow, I managed to turn 55 last month!  Omygod — how did that happen?

Meet Carol — we met two months ago and just kind of hit it off.

She took me to Burlington, Vermont, for my birthday.  We spent three days there and had a great time.  The parts of Vermont we visited were very beautiful and serene.

Burlington is on Lake Champlain, which is about 125 miles long and is the home of Champ, a cousin of the Loch Ness Monster.  We had a couple of sightings.

This was a walk in the woods.  They still had snow up there.

(Gorilla tripod, 10 seconds auto-timer.)

 

Here are some more photos:

  Lake Champlain

    

Champ isn't the only strange creature around here.

Church Street we found an Irish pub here that served draft Boddington's!  Vermont is so civilized.

We visited yer actual Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory!

You need a boat to get here!

 

March 2, 2008
The more you run over a dead cat, the flatter it gets.

"In the corridors of old Grove Park,
Some shadowy figures lurk.
They're the ghosts of past schoolboys
Who died from overwork."

    
By Sepps (see My Poetry link on the left)

Are you a Grove Park survivor?  An ex-inmate of that institution?  Then you might be interested in this website:  www.oldwrexhamians.co.uk. It was created by Roy McMahon who contacted me last week after seeing my version (on the Skool link on the left).  Happily for him, his experience there was very different to mine.

Meanwhile back in NH, the snow keeps right on coming.  We have had three good sized snowstorms in one week!  I think I have reached the maximum extent of how high I can physically throw the snow.

 

You used to be able to park three cars where that mountain of snow and ice is at the end of the driveway.  Now I can barely get my car out of the garage, as you can see in this photo. 

Currently we are at 108.7" of snowfall. That's 9'!

We are in 2nd place for highest snowfall in a winter season since 1900 and only the third time we've reached 100" since 1900.

We are in 6th place for the all time record and are closing in on that one too as shown in this list:

1) 1873-74 122.0"
2) 1872-73 115.0"
3) 1995-96 113.2"
4) 1886-87* 111.0"
5) 1887-88* 111.0"
6) 2007-08 108.7"
7) 1898-99 103.2"
8) 1874-75 103.0"
 

Here are some more pics:

    

    

 

February 16, 2008
Confidence is the feeling you have just before you understand the situation.

Brrrrr!  It's bloody cold here!

As I write this, the temperature is 7ºF/-13.88ºC and dropping.  I have the woodstove cranked up high.  Last year, I only used it a few times but I am making up for it now.

Same thing with the snow.  We had relatively little last year but we have been dumped on big time this year.  Global warming is not very much in evidence around here at the moment.  We have had so much snow and ice this year that a lot of buildings have collapsed under the weight of it all.

We even had some heavy rain a few days ago.  It's usually too cold for that at this time of year.  (Maybe that's the global warming.)  The rain caused some flooding — including my basement (of course).  I had the pumps going for two days.  There is even more snow, ice and rain on the way in the next few days.  Something to look forward to.

Me and Tasha took some photos this afternoon.  The "snow" you see in these photos has compressed and turned into solid ice.  When the thaw comes, there will be a huge release of water and there will be more flooding.

These two photos show the mountain of ice at the end of the driveway. My very own mini-glacier.

In previous years this ice pile has remained well into the warm weather and long after the snow and ice had melted elsewhere.

 This is the highest it has ever been and may grow still higher.  Tasha thinks she is a mountain goat and likes to climb on it.

 

Tasha is guarding the firewood a valuable commodity right now.

All the snow and rain created a lot of slush, which has now frozen solid.  This is my driveway under a thick coat of ice.  It's like a skating rink only bumpier.

The town's snow plow did a number on my mailbox.

It has been knocked sideways and twisted and the post is probably broken.  I can't get to it because it is embedded in solid ice.

I have not had any mail for the last three days.  I rarely ever go a day without getting something, usually junk mail.

I am beginning to suspect that the post office has stopped delivering mail because the driver cannot reach the mailbox in its new position.

 

 

 

 

 

mike stanley, michael stanley, wrexham, grove park, consultant, c#, .net, sql server

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